Breathe
by twilightsharkbyte
Summary: What if your lover began to die, right before your eyes? Oneshot. Angst and plenty of suspense. Sam and Sebastian head to the Zuzu City fair as a getaway from the valley, but are only met with a situation none of them asked for.


"Sam, seriously, it's getting late."

The night sky engulfed the horizon of the Zuzu City Fair. It was nearly ten o'clock, but the two boys were still out and about enjoying the festivities.

"Come on, just one more ride! I swear it'll be good."

Sebastian rolled his eyes. They had ridden almost everything there already, and you could only survive on expensive fair food for so long. He just wanted to get back to the hotel and chill out for a while.

"Fine. One more, and that's it. Promise?" Sebastian sighed.

The taller blonde nodded rapidly, getting up from the bench and tugging on his friend's wrist. The darker-haired one hesitantly followed along, as they weaved their way through the calming crowd to the back of the fairgrounds.

"Do you even know where the heck you're going?" Sebastian asked after a couple minutes.

"Shut up," Sam replied, grasping the other's arm harder, "it's in the back."

The two continued their journey to their destination, the shorter one trying to think which attraction would be high enough for daredevil Sam's standards, but hidden so deep in this maze that he didn't notice it before. Eventually, the taller came to a halt, and gestured for the other to look upwards at the bright sign.

 _The Heart Ripper._

Sam grinned, eyeing Sebastian to see if he was excited at all.

"What do you think?"

The darker-haired one remained silent, frozen, as he took in the sight. The flashing, taunting lights, the bloody murder screams, the shaky metal. It was terrifying. Much more than the ones before. But of course, his ego was too big to miss this.

"Y-yeah," he managed to get out, "it's...epic."

The blonde smirked, leading his friend to the start of the line. It wasn't very long, considering it was in the back of the park. Sebastian assumed they would be on next, second at the least.

 _It'll all be over in ten minutes. Ten minutes, you won't have to be scared anymore. It'll be done by then, right?_

"Hey...you're biting your nails dude, are you _scared_?"

"No." Sebastian responded urgently, shoving his hands into his pockets.

"Sebby's a scaredy-cat," Sam teased, mimicking meows, "you know, the merry-go-round is just around the corner."

"Shut _up_ ," the other said, pulling his dark jacket's hood onto his head. It was starting to get a little chillier outside, despite the fact it was summer.

Sam pulled out his phone, and entertained himself by playing the brand new pocket edition to _Junimo_ _Kart_. Sebastian, on the other hand, was watching the next round of people get on the attraction, hoping they wouldn't sound as piercing as the last. He saw a girl about his size get told she couldn't ride. Something about being too skinny for the restraints to hold her back. _Yikes_.

Moments passed, and he was wrong. They sounded just as terrified as before. He could only hope that they were screaming out of enjoyment rather than fear.

"Come on, we're getting on now."

Sam gestured for him to follow as the shorter one noticed the operator switching out. Her shift was probably over.

The blonde smiled, clearly stoked, as he sat down in one of the compartments. They each held two people, and had relatively large but loose safety restraints to ensure even the _heaviest_ could experience the fun.

Sebastian cautiously followed, stepping onto it and sitting down. He put on a fake grin, hoping he could fool his friend. In fear, he pulled down the restraint and wiped his sweaty palms on his skinny jeans after.

"Dude..." Sam started, slightly concerned, "if you're like, _actually_ scared, we don't have to ride this."

"No, no," the other replied, "i-it's okay, don't worry about it."

"You can, uh...hold my hand..if you want."

Sebastian nodded, reaching for it as he felt the blonde grasp his own hand, attempting to comfort him.

Although they didn't always act like it, they were a newly formed couple. They weren't really... _out_...yet, but the two were working on it.

Suddenly, the ride began with a hiss as it lifted. Sebastian realized the new operator didn't ecen check to make sure their restraints were secure. He braced himself as he held his friend's hand as tight as he could, worry in his eyes. Sam tried not to be too concerned with him, because he wanted to enjoy it.

But everything after that was a blur.

The ride twisted, it turned, it rocked, it jerked, and he could have sworn he saw Sebastian slipping out just a little, but Sam was the type of person who enjoyed it being a little loose. It just added to the feeling of danger.

But after several minutes, it had ended.

"Dude, that was awesome."

The attraction slowly came to a halt as Sam began to lift the restraint off himself. He hoped the other enjoyed it as much as he did.

"Seb? You liked it, right?"

The blonde got out of the seat and looked over, confused, only to be met with something completely unexpected.

"You two!" the operator called, "Get moving!"

"Wait! I-I...I think he's unconcious!"

* * *

Panicking, Sam watched as the first aid crew attepted to get his lover's heart going again. They had been at it for over twenty minutes. He could tell they were already starting to question if they had made it in time.

One of them sighed. "Look, I'm sorry kid, but...I don't think he's coming back. It's too late. Just sue the fair, it's all on us."

Obviously, the small crowd in line quietly gasped, not believing what they had just heard.

Fighting back tears, Sam responded, "Sue the fair?" he started, "You're acting as if he's a piece of merchandise, not a human being. He has a family, a whole life ahead of him, and you're just gonna give up?"

"I told you, kid, it's too late."

"I don't believe you."

"What was that?"

"I said I don't believe you."

The boy shoved them both aside as he bent over his friend, and attempted to perform CPR just as the crew had before. He didn't care if the people in line thought he was crazy, he just wanted his friend back.

Forcefully, he pressed onto the center of his chest for a while, then braced himself to try to give the boy some air. The blonde tried to ignore how soft those lips were, he knew they'd be all his another time. With tears in his eyes, he lifted himself up, and repeated the process again.

One minute.

Two minutes.

Three minutes.

Four minutes.

Five minutes.

Six minutes.

Seven minutes.

Eight minutes.

Nine minutes.

 _Gasp._

Right as Sam had began to lose hope, Sebastian arose from the ground, coughing, but alive.

"Shh...it's okay...ohmy _gosh_ I can't believe you're actually back."

The blonde pulled his friend in for a hug as tears poured down his cheeks. The small group of people still around cheered. The two just sat there for a moment, holding each other, as the workers gazed at them in shock.

"Let's go back now, okay?"

* * *

Sam buckled himself into the driver's seat, starting the engine and backing up out of the parking spot.

"Dude, can you like...tell me what the heck was going on back there?"

Sebastian looked over at him, still a bit in shock. "Honestly, I don't really know."

"Can you like...recite what you remember?"

"I mean," the darker-haired one started, lowering the radio, "I just...I was really scared I guess that I was going to fall out...so I just...freaked out. I dunno."

"Wait, why were you scared you were gonna fall out? You went on that other ride and you were just fine."

"No, but like, the operator person told another person she was too skinny to ride."

"And that scared you?"

"...a little."

"Dude, your heart freaking stopped. Everyone thought you were dead. Like, something must have happened," Sam questioned, driving his old Jeep back to the hotel. "You don't remember anything?"

"Look," Sebastian said, a little frustrated now, "I was scared, I got on, the worker didn't even check on us, then the ride scared me, so I had a panic attack and something worse probably happened from there. Wouldn't you be a little freaked out if you were me?"

Sam sighed, trying to understand his friend. "Yeah...I..I'm sorry. I really shouldn't have brought you on there."

In silence, the blonde parked the car and climbed out. They both walked inside and to the elevator without saying a word.

"Sorry," the shorter one said, "I should have spoke up."

Sam nodded, pressing the button with their floor level on it. "You wanna just, warm up some frozen pizza or something?"

"Sure," Sebastian smiled.

Seconds later, the doors opened, and the two found their room just down the hall. The blonde pulled the key out of his pocket and opened the door, heading straight for the kitchen to make them some dinner. Meanwhile, the darker-haired surfed the channels on TV while laying down on the couch.

He settled on a documentary about moonlight jellies.

Several minutes later, Sam walked in with a fresh pizza from the oven, customized with half black olive and half pepperoni to suit their favorite flavors.

"Take your platforms off dude, the cleaning lady's gonna kill us."

Rolling his eyes, Sebastian unbuckled and set down the three-inch platform boots without taking his eyes off the screen. He had gotten then as a birthday present from Abigail last year.

Satisfied, Sam sat down on one end of the couch, setting the pizza down on the coffee table.

"Moonlight jellies? You're kidding."

"You watch those weird cartoons. Don't even get me started," Sebastian said, grabbing a slice of black olive.

"Cartoons?"

"That weird...animu...anime stuff you were telling me about. Junimo Ball Z or whatever?"

"You are so clueless sometimes," Sam grinned, biting into a slice of pepperoni.

Sebastian laughed. "As if you even know what Legend of Yoba is."

"No no...wait...is that the one with the green kid?"

"Well...technically, as of last year, they changed up his outfit and incorperated some blue into it."

Sam rolled his eyes, "Whatever."

They both continued eating as they finished watching the documentary. By the time it was completely over, Sebastian was already asleep, his head resting on Sam's lap.

Smiling, the blonde took a moment to realize how innocent he looked right now. He gently brushed his friend's freshly dyed bangs out of his face, just to get a clearer view. The boy preferred to keep it hidden, but he wasn't naturally a purple-ette. Sebastian's natural hair color was actually more of a ginger, close to his mother's.

Sam tried to remember what he had looked like with red hair. It was very rare that his color even hinted at it looking faded. Demetrius had caught him drinking with Shane one night though, so he had gotten grounded for a whole two months from going out. Not that the poor kid strived to leave anyway, but that meant no access to the beauty aisle of JojaMart.

The boy grinned, faintly recalling how his lover's rusty locks would bring out his freckles. They were very faint now, especially because Sebastian hardly ever left his skin soak in the sun for more than thirty seconds.

Slowly, Sam began to drift off, clutching his friend's slender palm in his own.

 _This is the kid I'm dating._

(Author's Note)

Hey everyone! I decided to write some sambastian because I feel like the Stardew Valley community is really lacking in fanfictions. I've written fanfiction for years now, but this is the very first one I'm displaying publicly. Don't be afraid to give me some feedback!

This little one-shot was written because I went to a fair today, and it inspired me to write lol. If you know me in real life, you know I can't write a story without some angst, but I tried to keep it down a little so I don't make a bad first impression haha.

Before anyone asks, no, this is not going to be a two+ shot. It may or may not have a sequel, I don't know.

Written for artificialheart - my inspiration.

(Also, super sorry if any of this is inaccurate. I spent about half an hour researching all the different ways you can die in a roller coaster. Can all of us writers just be entitled to a doctor friend we can message at 3am?)


End file.
